Gallery of Restored Storage Tanks

Lassiter Tank Farm, Cuba

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is the oldest overseas US military base. It is a major fueling station for military ships and aircraft in the Caribbean. Each year, 16 million gallons of fuel are used to refuel more than 200 ships and numerous aircraft. There are three fuel farms at Guantanamo Bay storing different grades of fuel - vehicle gasoline, diesel fuel, and aviation fuel (JP-5).

The facilities at the Lassiter Fuel Farm includes several 80 year-old underground concrete storage tanks, which had not been utilized since 1999. In 2005, Abhe & Svoboda, Inc. refurbished these tanks to make them serviceable again. The work involved cleaning and hazardous waste removal, structural steel repairs and upgrades, painting, roofing, and electrical work.This project was the first time U.S. Navy engineers had attempted to retrofit square concrete tanks with circular steel linings. Since these tanks were unique, there was little or no engineering and construction history to provide background knowledge and experience for installing a steel lining system of this type.

Before construction could start, the tanks needed to be free from sludge, dirt, and standing liquids. Almost 3600 liters of hazardous waste was removed from the storage tanks. Once clean, steel tank fabrication liners with coating were installed. This project required approximately 157,500 square feet of abrasive blasting to clean the steel surfaces. Following blasting operations, a NRL latex lining system was applied. ​Additional upgrades were also needed in order to comply with current safety and environmental regulations, such as the provision of new leak detection system, which included 16" motorized valves, 8" isolation valves with associated piping, electrical, and alarms.The tank refurbishment project took almost a full year to complete. One of the bigger challenges was the necessity to transport equipment and materials from the states.

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Pearl Harbor is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet and the site of one of the most famous events in modern American history. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a devastating attack on the Naval ships in Pearl Harbor, which forced the United States to enter World War II. Despite the loss of several battleships, much of the Naval Base's infrastructure remained intact, including the fuel storage facilities.

Many historians and military experts have noted that the failure of the Japanese to destroy the Pearl Harbor Tank Farm was a major failure on their part. The fuel tank farms held the entire fuel supply for the Pacific Fleet (140 million gallons), and could have been destroyed with a single bomb, which in turn would have severely hampered the US recovery and fighting capability. As it turns out these fuels reserves were vital to the initial phase of the War.​In 1996, Abhe & Svoboda, Inc. completed an oil spill prevention project at the Pearl Harbor tank farm. The general work description for this project included: construction of new secondary containment berms, re-grading and repair of existing berms, lining of berms with flexible membrane liners (FML), cast in place concrete pavements, catch basins, drain lines, oil/water separators, electrical conduit, lighting, removal of abandoned pipelines, removal and disposal of petroleum and PCB contaminated soil and hazardous waste incidental to any project grading, trenching and demolition, and overflow piping.

Ralphine Tank, California

The 280 foot diameter tank holds 18 million gallons of water. Abhe & Svoboda, Inc. abrasive blasted both the interior and exterior of the tank using a recyclable steel grit abrasive. Following coal tar coatings removal in the tank interior, a 100% solids epoxy coating was applied under full dehumidification. For a few months, environmental conditions were held very strictly during coatings application. The exterior was painted with a moisture cured urethane.

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